George, I would submit to you that such tactics were used constantly during Indian on Indian struggles, and I find it surprising that you would suggest that the Indians, who had been slaughtering each other for millennia before the whites arrived, could have learned anything new from us in that regard.

But camping on the Horseshoe Bend battle, I will say that, unfortunately, the U.S. has a long and glorious tradition of hanging its allies out to dry. From the "good" Creeks who helped Jackson defeat Menawa all the way forward to the ARVN, and soon Iraq, we've taken our friends, screwed them blue, and tattooed them too.

But you have to wonder about Jackson after Horseshoe Bend. He saw no difference between his Creek allies and the Red Sticks they were fighting. His bogus "Treaty of Ft. Jackson" rewarded his Creek allies by stealing 23 million acres of Alabama and Georgia for the US govt. As a large Southern slave-holder, perhaps Jackson simply viewed the Creeks, any Creeks, as less than human, to be used to the fullest and then tossed like an empty whiskey bottle. I don't know how else to explain such callous treatment of people who bled and died for Old Hickory.

Yes, there is no shortage of shameful moments in American history, quite unlike most other nations by the way.